November, 1930
A u t o m a t ic A ge
for protecting inventions from infringe
ment. I have known of several inventors
who were poor. Their ideas would have
made them millionaires, but they were kept
poor by the pirates who were allowed
through our very faulty system of protec
tion to usurp their rights. The usurpation
is particularly apt to obtain in the case of
some great epoch-making patent. I deny
that I have ever enjoyed a monopoly upon
anything that I have ever invented, with
this single modification: The producers of
motion pictures did pay me royalties until
my patents expired. But even in that case
I had to fight a long time in court over my
claims.
Money for Defense
“The pirates can readily get all the
money they require—millions, if needed—
to carry on their contests. The first step
is to hire a sharp lawyer—one who can
make any judge unfamiliar with technology
believe that black is white. They set up
the claim that they and not the inventor,
should be recognized, as the originator of
certain ideas. They boldly strut into court
and enjoin the inventor from manufactur
ing anything from his own creations and
formulas, even though the inventor may
hold in his hands a patent issued by the
United States Government. In previous
years these pirates were thus enabled to
hold; the rightful inventor back by persist
ing in litigation sometimes for ten, twelve
and fourteen years. Meanwhile, the courts
would not infrequently permit the pirates,
‘for the good of mankind,’ to proceed with
the manufacture of the same device, pend
ing litigation; so there was, in reality, no
such thing as an inventors’ monopoly. True
enough, a patent is supposed to carry the
Government’s protection or seventeen years,
and I suppose the man in the street, or the
man between plow handles, fancies that the
inventor’s life during those seventeen years
of grace is down a primrose path to a pot
of gold at the foot of the rainbow.
“Do you see that little incandescent lamp
hanging over my head? Well, I fought in
the courts of this and other countries for
fourteen years to establish my rights as
inventor, even after I had the patents. My
associates and I had to spend more than
$ 1 , 000,000 to prove our rights to the in
candescent light, even though our claims
had. been duly vouched by the United States
patent office. First, a Frenchman bobbed
Up and claimed ihe was the inventor. Then,
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I believe, a man or several men in England
went to court. Everywhere, all around the
earth, the pirates kept picking on that little
lamp, and they were able to keep me out of
the profits on my patents until there were
ibut three years left out of the seventeen
years. So, while the light was a boon to
the world at large, to the inventor the pat
ent was well-nigh useless.
“Some improvement has been made in the
law of court procedure since then. A con
testant, or pretender, is not allowed, so
much time now as formerly. He must make
a quicker show-down— spread his cards on
the table. After I had made many and
varied protests about the utter lack of pro
tection in the courts, I was asked to go be
fore both branches of Congress to see what
could be done to tighten up the laws. I
appeared before committees and showed
them that an inventor had mighty little
show as matters stood. But about the only
improvement made was in speeding up the
action in court so that the real inventor
could not 'be so long enjoined from manu
facturing his dlevice.
Special Patent Court
“Now, a great many persons will say,
‘Anybody can find fault.’ They will want
to know what can I suggest to correct the
evils of the present way of enforcing the
patent laws. First, I would say create a
separate and special court. Take the whole
business out of the regular judicial system.
It has never belonged there. What does the
average judge of our district courts, or cir
cuit courts of appeal— or even of the Su
preme Court, for that matter—know about
the technical phases of chemistry or phy
sics? These judges have been lawyers all
their lives, and theere are—some of them—
distinguished for their ability as jurists.
But when it comes to understanding a con
test over amperes, or ohms, or the atomic
theory, or subatomic energy, they can be
fooled by a smart lawyer quite as soon as,
if not sooner than, any farmer from the
hinterlands who does know which end of
a cow gets up first, and why.
“I would appoint, to this special court for
trying patent cases, judges from the facul
ties of colleges of technology, men who
know something about science. They cou’d
travel around the country and hold court,
if need be, in the factories and, workshops
of the inventors and their competitors, and
get first-hand data upon each issue in-
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